


Turning Back the Hands of Time

by dearingsattler



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, F/M, Howard Stark is both a genius and an idiot, Life Model Decoys, Steggy Secret Santa 2015, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-10
Updated: 2016-03-10
Packaged: 2018-05-25 14:56:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6199444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearingsattler/pseuds/dearingsattler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>1947: Peggy Carter gets hit with a ray of Howard Stark's invention<br/>2015: An alert goes off, leading Agent Hill to the field in which Peggy Carter has just landed.  But is she really Peggy Carter?</p>
<p>(Originally posted on tumblr)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Turning Back the Hands of Time

**Author's Note:**

> 2015 Steggy Secret Santa fic for leiaaaorgana on tumblr.
> 
> I may have taken a few creative liberties with the concept of life model decoys.

Steve’s life fell apart on a Thursday.

Well, no, that was not exactly correct. The event that caused Steve’s life to fall apart happened on a Thursday, truthfully Steve did not find out about this event until the next day.

And his life did not fall apart until the day after that.

But let’s not get ahead here.

~~~

It had been a surprisingly quiet Thursday night; no missions going awry, no random or otherworldly happenings going on. Nope, nothing out of the ordinary, thought the young recruit who had the task of monitoring the alert systems for the night.

Until around 11:00 pm, when one of the alert systems went off.

“Boss, I think you better come take a look at this.”

Maria Hill walked over to the monitors and took a look. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

The young agent looked up at her, “What is it?”

“Barton and I will cover this one, call in Stark, will you?” Hill looked over her shoulder, “Barton! Suit up!” she yelled before turning back to the other agent. “Tell Stark to come in and that I’ll debrief him once I’m back.”

Barton appeared, “ready to go.”

Hill nodded, “let’s get going.”

~~~

Peggy hit the ground hard and rolled onto her back with a groan. Sitting up, she observed her surroundings and found them to be nothing she recognized. She groaned again, “what the bloody hell did you do this time, Howard?”

Peggy got up and looked in every direction, but before she could decide on a direction to go in she heard a noise overhead. Looking up she saw an aircraft, which landed about a hundred feet in front of her. She had never seen an aircraft quite like this before. It must be Howard’s, she decided, he did say he was working on a new design.

The ramp began to lower and Peggy strode towards it. “For God’s sake, Howard. How in the hell did you manage-” she stopped short. “Neither of you are Howard.”

Hill walked down the ramp, still not quite believing what she was seeing, and she had seen alien invasions before. “No, we are not. I’m Agent Maria Hill, and this is Agent Clint Barton.”

Peggy seemed suspicious, “Agents of what?”

“Shield, Miss Carter,” it was Barton who spoke up this time.

“That’s Director Carter to you, and you are most certainly not agents I hired, nor are those get-ups regulation.” There was a fierce edge to her voice.

Hill stifled a sigh, “be that as it may Director Carter, I’m afraid you’re going to have to come with us. For security reasons.”

Peggy rolled her eyes out of exasperation, “I don’t know who you think you are, but I demand to speak to Stark.”

“That can be arranged,” Hill replied tersely. “But you must come with us.”

“Fine.” Peggy’s voice was clipped, but she followed the two agents up the ramp and into the quinjet.

Hill got Peggy settled in the back and then went and joined Barton up front. He turned to her, “so umm, how are you going to arrange for her to talk with Howard Stark when he’s been dead for years?”

Hill gave him a look, “I said I’d arrange for her to talk with Stark, neither one of us specified which Stark. Tony is supposed to meet us back at base.”

~~~

Hill left Barton to take Peggy to a holding room while she went to fill Stark in on the situation. She found him in a meeting room, lounging on a chair with his feet on the table.

“So what’s so important that you had to call me in after hours, especially on date night?”

Hill took a seat across from him and crossed her arms, “a young Peggy Carter appearing in the 21st century.”

Tony whipped his feet off of the table and leaned forward, “are you positive?”

“Short of a DNA test, yes. She asked to speak with Stark. I know she meant Howard, but she didn’t specify, so I think you should be the one to talk with her.”

Tony rubbed his temple, “Hell, okay. I want a DNA test done to be absolutely sure that she is the real deal and we’ll go from there.”

Hill nodded, “I’ll go grab a scientist and send them your way.”

“Sounds good, where did you put her?”

“Barton was taking her to holding room D.” Hill got up at headed to the door, “Good luck, Stark.”

~~~

Peggy walked alongside Barton on the way to the holding room. “Where in the hell are we? This is not any Shield base I am familiar with, where is Stark?”

Barton sighed, “all will become clear in just a few minutes Director Carter.” He opened the door to the holding room and ushered her inside, “Stark will be here momentarily.” He closed the door and Peggy was left alone. She scoped out the room quickly before dropping into a chair and putting her head into her hands, the whole situation giving her a headache.

The door opened again and Peggy looked up to see, “You’re not Howard Stark.”

“Nope,” Tony sauntered in and shut the door behind him. He placed a jug and a couple of glasses on the table before sitting down. “Brought some water in case you’re thirsty.”

Peggy didn’t acknowledge the water instead leveling a glare at Tony, “who are you?”

“You asked to speak to Stark, so here I am. The name’s Tony Stark.” He leaned back in his chair, “so what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Tony Stark? Howard never mentioned a brother. Or are you a cousin he’s never mentioned?”

“Neither actually. But that’s not important right now. What is important is how you got here. What was Howard working on that resulted in this?”

“And why should I tell you that?”

“So we can figure out what went wrong and fix it. Howard bragged about every single one of his inventions anyway, I’ve probably heard about it.”

Peggy sighed, deliberating with herself for a moment. “It was a ray,” she finally said. “I’m not certain what it was supposed to do, he called it a – what was it – a trans-dimensional something or other maybe. I don’t remember, he was speaking so fast and using so many large scientific terms. I mean, I’m not dumb, but he’s hard to understand sometimes. Anyway, he was tinkering with it when suddenly it went off, the ray hit me, and I’m in a field instead of the facility.”

“Trans-dimension – you don’t meant the trans-temporal ray, do you?”

“Yes, I believe that’s the one.”

“Right. Well it’s late, you must be tired. I’ll show you to a bunk and we’ll continue this in the morning, yeah?” Peggy nodded, seemingly in shock.

There was a knock at the door and Tony got up to answer it, on the other side was the scientist Hill said she would send. “Hey man, we’re not going to need those tests anymore.”

The scientist nodded, “Agent Hill also said to tell you that she prepped bunk 37 with some clothing and other essentials for Miss Carter.”

Tony nodded, “thanks.” The scientist gave him a nod and left, Tony turned to Peggy. “Come on.”

Peggy followed him silently to the bunk. Tony opened the door and flicked the light on. “Through that door is the bathroom, you’ll find anything you need in there or on the bed here,” Tony gestured to the bed. “If there’s anything you need hit the comm button above the bed and someone will come, but you should be good, Hill’s pretty savvy with these things.”

Peggy said nothing, just following him in and sitting down on the edge of the bed. At this point, Tony took note of her distress, “What’s wrong?”

“What year is it?”

This took Tony off guard, “what?”

“You spoke about Howard in past tense earlier, said that he bragged about his inventions not that he brags about his inventions. And that ray, trans-temporal means across time. You also look a lot like Howard, yet you say that you are neither his brother nor his cousin. So I’ll ask again, what year is it?” She looked at Tony desperately.

Tony paused before answering, “it’s 2015. And yes, I’m neither Howard’s brother nor his cousin; I’m his son. Look, I know this is a lot to take in, try and get some sleep and we’ll talk again tomorrow, okay?” Peggy nodded and with that Tony left her alone with her thoughts.

~~~

Tony met up with Hill again in the control room. “How is she doing?”

“As well as can be expected, I hope some sleep will help her out. Have someone keep an eye on her, if she’s not asleep by say 3:00 am have someone sedate her, exhaustion won’t help matters.”

Hill nodded, “uh, Stark?” Tony grunted in reply. “Shouldn’t we inform Steve of this?”

Tony groaned, he hadn’t even thought of Steve. “It’s only fair, I suppose. But not until tomorrow afternoon, you know he’s going to want to come as soon as he hears about this. And he’ll need debriefing before seeing her, but I’ll do that myself.”

Hill nodded again, “I’ll call him in and then you can do the explaining.”

“Sounds good. Now, I’m going to head home, I’ll see what of Howard’s files I can dig up on the ray that brought her here. Call me if anything comes up.”

“Will do.”

~~~

The night passed in a blur for Peggy. When she woke, she felt disoriented, and had no memory of falling asleep. As she looked around everything came flooding back to her: Howard and his ray, the empty field, the two agents in the aircraft, Howard’s son.

The fact that it was the year 2015.

Peggy groaned and fell back against the pillow. If I manage to get out of this mess, the first thing I’m doing is killing Howard for getting me into it.

She got up and went into the bathroom to freshen up. Upon coming out she found that breakfast had been delivered to her room. She sat down to eat, and shortly after a knock came at her door.

She spent the remainder of the morning relaying every detail of the day she was hit with the ray to Tony, who in turn told her what he knew of the ray, which admittedly was not much.

The clock struck noon and Tony stood up. “I should be going; lunch will brought in for you shortly and then I believe you’ll have another visitor quite keen on seeing you.”

“Another visitor who would be keen on seeing me? Who could you possibly be talking about?” But Tony had already gone. Peggy sat back, she was nearly 70 years in the future, who could Tony have contacted that would wish to see her so much? It suddenly struck her that everyone she knew was likely dead. And unless she made it back to her own time, chances were she would never see any of them again.

Suddenly, Peggy did not have much of an appetite for lunch.

~~~

Steve walked into headquarters wondering what was going on. Hill had been secretive with her call, even more so than usual, all he knew was that this wasn’t a mission.

Still, he had brought his shield with him just to be safe.

He made his way to the main meeting room and was surprised to find Tony there waiting for him. “Stark? What are you doing here? I was expecting to meet Hill.”

“Hill did call you, but we decided it was best that I speak with you.”

Steve took a seat across from Tony, “What’s going on, Stark? Hill calls me, tells me that something has come up and I have to come in right away, and now you’re the only other one here.” Tony slid a file across the table. “What’s this?”

“That is everything I have on the trans-temporal ray my father was working on circa 1947.”

Steve flipped through it briefly before putting it down, “and what does this have to do with anything?”

“It has everything to do with why you’re here. The ray worked, Steve.”

That caught Steve’s attention, “It worked? Who did it bring to today?”

Tony stood up and walked towards the door, “it might be best if you see for yourself.” Steve followed Tony out of the room and down the hallway, “just remember to only talk about stuff she would know, changing the course of time could be deadly.”

Steve raised an eyebrow, but did not say anything. Finally they came to the door to bunk 37 where Tony clapped Steve on the shoulder and gave him a nod before going back in the direction they came.

Steve knocked once before opening the door. He closed it gently and turned to see who the person was and froze.

~~~

Peggy looked up as she heard a knock and the door opening, and felt her breath catch in her throat as she recognized who it was.

“Steve?”

“Peggy?”

Both of their voices were unsteady. Steve crossed the room in an instant and pulled Peggy into his arms. The two sank onto the bed, both of their frames trembling.

“Stark said that the ray brought someone here, I never imagined that that person would be you.”

“You’re alive,” Peggy heard her voice crack. “Howard said that the serum could potentially save you, but the chances were so slim, and so much time passed and we still couldn’t find you, and I started to give up hope.” Tears were falling freely down her cheeks by this point, “I’m so sorry, Steve.”

Steve held her tighter, “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“How?” Peggy’s voice was no more than a whisper.

“They found me a few years ago. I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you more than that.”

“It’s okay. I just wish we had been able to find you.”

“There’s nothing more you could have done.” Steve kissed the top of her head. “Now, tell me about the end of the war.”

So they spent the rest of the afternoon talking about the end of the war and Peggy’s life since then; updating Steve on what was going on and how the guys were. All too soon, visiting hours were over and it was time for Steve to leave.

“You’ll come visit again, won’t you?” Peggy looked up at Steve, her expression hopeful.

“Of course I will,” Steve leaned down and kissed Peggy gently. “I’ll see you soon, okay.”

Peggy nodded, “try not to be too late.”

“Hey,” Steve smirked, “it’s me we’re talking about here.” 

Peggy laughed for the first time since she found herself in this mess.

~~~

“Stark!” Tony turned around to see Hill running up the hallway, a couple of files in her hand.

“What’s up?”

Hill handed him the files, “this whole situation just got a lot more complicated.”

~~~

Steve walked into headquarters the next day, after stopping to pick up some sweets he knew Peggy had a fondness for. Logically he knew that Peggy would have to return to her time, but until then he was going to make the most of the little time that they had.

That plan, however, did not factor Tony meeting Steve right at the door as soon as he arrived.

Steve raised an eyebrow, “what’s up?”

“Come with me.” Steve followed Tony to the meeting room where they had met the day before and the two sat down. Tony slid a file across the table to him.

Steve flipped it open and was met with the title ‘Life-Model Decoy’. He flipped through the rest of it to find it very technical. “Are these the schematics for a robot?”

“Of sorts, LMDs are meant to take the place of a person without anyone suspecting that it’s a facsimile instead of the real deal; sometimes even the LMD wouldn’t realize. Kind of like a clone, except for a few parts being mechanical.”

“Alright,” Steve said slowly. “What do LMDs have to do with anything?” Tony slid a second file across the table. “I’ve seen Peggy’s file before.”

Tony shook his head, “not this one. Hill dug this up last night, it’s the redacted file. Howard buried it, left it to be forgotten.”

Steve opened the file and flipped through the pages he’d seen before until he came across a new item and was taken aback, “LMD.” He looked up at Tony, “Howard built an LMD of her.”

Tony nodded, “we’re not certain for what reason, he never specified. But I think you better look at the note on the next page as well.”

Steve turned the page, “The ray hit her; she’s gone. I’ve looked at the numbers, the schematics, everything, but I can’t figure out how to bring her home. I have to declare her MIA. And this file can never again see the light of day.” Steve let that sink in before realizing, “he never specified if the ray hit Peggy or her LMD.”

Tony nodded, “that’s where things get complicated.”

Steve swallowed, “how do you tell?”

Tony sighed, “that’s what I haven’t figured out. None of the standard identification tests will work, Howard designed LMDs to fool even law enforcement officials and hospital staff.”

“So what do we do?”

“I figure out a test, but there is one other thing to consider.” Tony took a deep breath, “we still need to think about her going back to her own time.”

“But if no one ever knew she was gone-”

“Messing with time is still a bad idea.” Tony cut Steve off. “Look, I don’t even know if it’s possible, but I have to try. It’s the responsible thing to do.” He looked at Steve who seemed to be frozen. “Look, I can’t even begin to imagine how hard this is for you, if that was Pepper who was hit by that ray…” He trailed off and shook his head. “You don’t have to like it, but do you understand?”

“You’re right, I don’t like it. But I do get it.” Steve stood up, “I got to clear my head.” He handed Tony the package of sweets, “I’m supposed to see Peggy, can you tell her that something came up and give her those for me?” Tony nodded. “Thanks,” with that, Steve left.

~~~

Peggy had been waiting in anticipation for Steve’s visit, and felt a thrill go through her as a knock on the door came. She crossed the room, large smile on her face to open the door, only to have it falter as she saw Tony and not Steve.

“Tony? What’s going on? Where’s Steve?”

Tony shuffled awkwardly, “yeah, something came up. Steve’s not going to be able to come in today, he asked me to give you this though.” He handed Peggy the package.

Peggy opened it and smiled, “peppermint puffs. My favourite.” She looked up at Tony again, “did Steve say when he would be able to come in?”

Tony shook his head, “I’m sorry, but I don’t know.” He turned to leave, “I’ll have someone bring you some books or something so you have something to do.”

“Tony wait,” he turned back to Peggy. “What’s going on, Tony? You’re obviously hiding something. What’s wrong? Is Steve okay?”

Tony gave her a sympathetic look, “Steve’s fine. But I’m afraid I can’t tell you more than that. I’m sorry.” He turned and walked down the hallway.

Peggy shut her door and sank to the ground against it, what was going on?

And why did she have such a bad feeling about it?

~~~

Steve went through the front doors and just started running. He had no time, distance or destination in mind, he just kept running.

He had gotten his hopes up there for a moment. For a brief moment he thought that he and Peggy might get their happy ending. That if the Peggy that was hit with the ray was the real deal and the LMD was in the past so people would be none the wiser, she would get to stay.

Steve knew Tony was right. If there was a way to send her back and they didn’t do it, the course of time could be drastically altered.

But in this instance, Steve wanted nothing more than to be selfish. To have Peggy in his life permanently. He shook his head and pushed himself harder.

He had to clear his head.

~~~

Peggy lay on her bed, trying to read one of the books Tony had sent for her, but all she could think of was Steve. Tony had said that something had come up, but Peggy was still hoping that he would make it in.

He never showed up.

~~~

Steve didn’t come the next day either.

~~~

When the third came and went without Steve visiting, Peggy requested to speak to Tony – who also had not been by in the past few days – to figure out what was going on.

She opened the door when the knock came and did a double take. “Tony, when was the last time you slept?”

“Depends. When was the last time I saw you?”

“Three days ago.”

“Oh, less time than I thought.” Tony walked into the room, “so what’s up?”

“That’s what I wanted to ask you. Steve hasn’t been here in four days and the last time I saw you, three days ago, you were distant.” Peggy took a deep breath to calm herself, “you’re hiding something from me Tony. What’s going on?”

Tony deliberated for a moment before asking, “Did Howard ever tell you of the life-model decoy project?”

“No, I can’t say I’ve heard of that one before. But then again, Howard didn’t tell anyone about a great number of his little projects.”

“Okay, well an LMD is like a clone almost. Except you build it like a robot rather than grow it like a clone. Does that make sense?”

Peggy nodded, “it makes sense but I still don’t understand how this is relevant.”

“The thing with some LMDs according to Howard is that they wouldn’t always realize they were a decoy and not the real thing.”

“Okay,” Peggy said slowly. “Can you please now tell me what this is really about?”

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment before looking back up at Peggy. “He built one of you. Right before you were hit by the ray.”

“What? No, Howard wouldn’t-”

“Wouldn’t he though?” Tony cut her off. “If there’s one thing Howard was good at, it was not thinking of others with his actions.”

Peggy chose to ignore that comment for the time being. “So what you’re saying is I might be an LMD and not even realize it?” Tony nodded. “Well okay, figure it out. I’ll do what you need me to.”

Tony shook his head, “it’s not that simple. Howard designed these things to fool everyone, I’ve been trying to figure out a test but it’s just not that simple.”

“So we can’t figure this out?” Tony shook his head. Peggy put her own head in her hands and a thought struck her. “Is this why Steve hasn’t been by?”

Tony gave her a sympathetic look, “Yeah, it is. He didn’t react well to the LMD thing, or to the necessity of trying to find a way to send you back.”

“And how’s that search going?” Peggy’s voice was hollow.

“I’ve crunched every number and gone over every schematic and, I’m sure you’ll be happy to know, it appears to be impossible. You’re here to stay.”

Peggy didn’t react. “I need to talk to Steve.”

“I’ll call him. In the meantime is there anything I can get you?” Peggy shook her head. “Alright, I’ll let you know if there’s any updates.” Tony took one more look at Peggy’s distressed expression and left. He had to figure out that test.

But right now finding Steve was more important.

~~~

Peggy curled up on the bed, the conversation she just had with Tony had left her feeling as though she had been punched in the gut several times. She had no idea what she had been expecting when she asked Tony what was happening, but it sure as hell was not what she was told. It was too fantastical, she could not really be some sort of decoy.

Could she?

~~~

Steve sat on the ground staring at the stone in front of him. He always came to this spot to think through things and hopefully sort everything out in his head.

But today that felt impossible.

How could everything have gotten so complicated? First Peggy ended up in the future, then she might not be Peggy, then she might have to go back either way.

It was enough to make his head spin.

“Thought I might find you here,” came a voice. Steve turned around to see Tony walking towards him. “You weren’t at your apartment, and I’ve heard that this is your favourite place to think.” He said by way of explanation, sitting down next to Steve.

“What are you doing here, Tony?”

“Peggy’s wants to see you, says you haven’t visited her since Saturday; she’s worried. And so am I now that I know how long it’s been.” He looked to the stone in front of him, “though I guess you kind of have been visiting her, huh?” The stone read: Margaret “Peggy” Carter, 1921-2010.

“When I first woke up, nothing made sense.” Steve’s voice was soft. “Everyone I knew was dead, I had no one to talk to. It took me a while to work up the ability to come visit her, and when I did I just started talking to her. I knew she couldn’t hear me and that she wouldn’t respond, but it helped.” Steve paused a moment, deep in his thoughts before starting again. “And now, I don’t know if who I’ve been speaking to is the real Peggy or not. I just, I was so happy to see Peggy again; I knew it was likely to be for a limited time, but it was just so good to see her again. And then it got complicated.”

Tony put a hand on his shoulder, “Look, I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now, but remember you’re not going through it alone. Peggy’s just as involved as you are, you need to talk to her.”

Steve looked down briefly before turning his gaze to Tony, “but is she the real Peggy?”

“I can’t answer that for sure yet, but I can tell you, whether she is or not, she’s here to stay.”

Hope crossed Steve’s face, “really?”

Tony nodded, “I looked at every possibility, sending her back is impossible. I could send her through time, but I can’t guarantee where she would end up so it’s better for her to stay here.” Steve said nothing, continuing to gaze forward at the stone. “You need to talk to her, you know.”

Steve sighed once more, “I know.”

~~~

Peggy was still curled up on the bed, having not moved since Tony left, when Steve knocked on her door.

She let him in and they moved to sit down without words. They sat in silence for a moment before Peggy spoke up, “I thought you weren’t going to come again.”

“That was never the plan, it’s just…” Steve trailed off and shook his head, seemingly at a loss for words.

“This situation is so fucked up you don’t know what to do?” Peggy deadpanned.

“Yeah,” Steve looked down. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, I just didn’t know what to do.” He looked at her expectantly.

Peggy reached out and covered his hand with her own, “you did nothing wrong, Steve. You didn’t know how to react when Tony told you, neither did I.” She looked down at their hands, “I still don’t know.”

Steve shifted his hand so that it was intertwined with Peggy’s. “We might not know how to react, but maybe we can figure out what it means together.”

Peggy gave Steve a weak smile, “I’d like that.”

~~~

Over the next couple of days Steve visited regularly and the pair talked through everything that had happened. Slowly, they came to an understanding. Things between them became much better. Of course there was still an awkwardness between them, created by the knowledge that Peggy may be an LMD.

A question to which, they still did not know the answer.

Today, however, Steve chose not to focus on that. Instead he brought alone with him his list to share with her.

Peggy flipped through the little notebook slowly, reading everything written in it, “so this is everything you’ve been told to need to educate yourself about?”

“Pretty much, yeah. Most of the stuff on the list has come from either Natasha or Sam, but occasionally I get suggestions from others.”

“Tell me about them?”

Steve smiled, “I think you’d like them both. Sam’s former Air Force, used to be a paratrooper; these days he runs support groups for returning veterans, when he’s not flying around as Falcon that is. Natasha’s a bit more of an enigma; former Russian assassin, deflected, became a spy for us, codename Black Widow.” Steve pulled out his wallet and from that, a photo. “That’s Natasha on the left and Sam on the right, they’re definitely my right hands; you can trust them.”

Peggy smiled, “I’m glad you’ve been able to find people you can trust.” The smile waned, “it’s been hard, knowing that everyone I trusted before is likely dead.”

Steve rubbed her back, “you know, the first thing I did upon waking was look up everyone I knew before. If you want, I can look up people for you, you just need to give me names.”

Peggy thought about it for a moment, “you know, I think I’d like that.” Steve took the notebook back from her and flipped to a new page and pulled out a pencil before giving it back to her. Peggy wrote down a few names and handed it back. “I know Howard’s already dead, but if you could look up these names I would appreciate it. I would also like to hear about the commandos, but I assume you’ve already looked them up.”

Steve read them out, “Edwin Jarvis, Angela Martinelli and Daniel Sousa. Tell me about them?”

Peggy smiled widely, “Jarvis was Howard’s butler. Became a good friend and colleague of mine as well when Howard had me clear his name of treason. Angie was my neighbour turned roommate and best friend, she was an aspiring actress and definitely had the skill to make it there one day; she once fooled everyone at the SSR during the whole treason thing. And Daniel was a co-worker at the SSR after the war, he could be sexist, he would be included in my rants to Angie, but at the end of the day he appreciated me as an agent and though he wasn’t exactly a friend, I knew I could trust him, even if it took a while to get there.” Peggy paused, “You would have liked them all, Jarvis and Angie especially. You might not have liked Daniel at first, you probably would have wanted to punch him along with the rest of them, but I think you would have grown to like him, or at least respect him. Unlike my other co-workers, he had the ability to learn.”

“Sound like good people, I’ll find out what I can.” Steve tucked the notebook back into his pocket.

Peggy pulled him into a hug, “thank you.”

~~~

True to his word, Steve spent his evening looking up the names Peggy had given him and brought the results to her the next day.

Sitting next to her, Steve pulled out a piece of paper. “Alright, let’s start with Jarvis, turns out he was the driver of the car the night Howard was killed, he died in the same accident. He and his wife never had children, and she died a few years later.”

Peggy’s breath caught in her throat, she knew that everyone was likely dead, but hearing was still terrible.

Steve took her hand and rubbed circles on the back of it with his thumb before continuing. “Daniel got married in ’51 and he and his wife had 2 kids. He died of cancer in the mid-90s.” He looked to Peggy to see how she was doing and saw that she was misty-eyed. But she nodded, telling him to keep going. “Angie got married a bit later in life, after making it on Broadway. She wasn’t a huge star, but she definitely wasn’t an unknown either. She and her husband had one child, a little girl named Elena Margaret, her middle name being for her godmother.”

Peggy covered her mouth in surprise, the tears falling freely now. “And what happened to Angie?” She voice wavered as she spoke.

Steve handed her a small slip of paper with an address written on it, “that’s the location of the nursing home she currently resides in.”

“She’s still alive?” Peggy breathed out.

Steve nodded, “I talked to Elena last night actually, and she says that Angie’s mind is still strong, but her body is frail. Apparently she still enjoys telling stories and talking up a storm.”

Peggy chuckled, “that definitely sounds like Angie. Do you think I should go see her?”

“I think you should do what is right for you, you will need to wait until you’re allowed out though. Which I’m working on by the way. You’re here for good, you might as well be allowed outside.”

“Good point. Maybe I’ll talk to Elena myself first before seeing Angie.”

“Good idea,” Steve paused for a moment and studied her face. “You going to be okay?”

Peggy nodded, “yeah. I knew I wasn’t going to hear much if any good news, but that didn’t make actually hearing it any less hard.”

“Nothing would make it less difficult,” he took her hand. “But I can tell you it becomes easier with time.”

Peggy did not say anything, instead she curled up into Steve’s side, absorbing his comforting presence.

~~~

“What are we?”

Steve looked up, the question having caught him off guard. “What do you mean?”

“Exactly that.” Peggy’s voice was quiet as she spoke. “We never really discussed it.” Steve opened his mouth to speak. “And before you say nothing has changed, you’re wrong. Things have changed, how we both reacted to everything just proves that.”

“But why should things have to change?” Steve shifted closer to Peggy and took her hand. “If there’s one thing I’ve determined since this whole thing started, it’s that you are Peggy. LMD or not, you’re still the same Peggy I knew during the war. You know, before I crashed the plane.” He gave her a smirk and she smacked him on the arm. “See, exhibit A right there. Look, I want to be with you in whatever capacity you’ll allow me.”

Peggy felt tears well up in her eyes, “but what if I’m an LMD?”

Steve pulled her towards his chest, “we’ll deal with that if and when it turns out to be true, okay?” Peggy nodded. “Good, now come here.” He tilted her chin up and pressed a gentle kiss to her mouth.

Peggy returned the kiss and then pulled away, eyes closed. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Steve smirked, “for kissing you? No need to thank me for that.”

Peggy smacked him on the chest, “for being you, you goofball.”

Steve chuckled and held her tighter to his chest, “well I don’t know who else to be. I’m just glad that I’m someone you like.”

~~~

A couple of days later Steve and Peggy were lounging on the bed in Peggy’s room watching movies on the television Steve had found and wheeled in when Tony burst into the room.

Peggy glared at him, “Knock much?”

Tony rolled his eyes, “oh please, like anything inappropriate was going to be going on in here. Grandpa here hasn’t had a chance to take you out on a proper date yet.”

Steve pulled himself up into a sitting position. “Very funny Stark, now what do you want? I know you didn’t come here just to insult me.”

“Of course not, it’s just a bonus. I’m here because I figured it out.”

Peggy bolted upright, “you figured it out? How?”

Tony spread a number of papers over the table, “I realized that Howard would need to know who the LMD is and who the real person is. So I started thinking like him – well at least to the extent that I could – and managed to find his signature. It’s small, it’s subtle, but it’s there.” He pointed to the areas he had circled on the designs, “see those dots on the last vertebrae of the spinal column?” Peggy and Steve nodded. “Those are indentations on the bone structure. They’re more obvious on here than they would be on an x-ray; you’d have to really be looking to see them on an x-ray, but they make a viable test.”

Peggy spoke without looking up from the diagrams, “so all you need are some x-rays?”

“Yep, just a few x-rays and maybe an hour to study them.”

“Done,” Peggy looked up at Tony. “When do we do this?”

~~~

Peggy followed Tony down to the med bay, Steve at her side, looking around the base in awe. “This is the first time I’ve seen any of the base other than the holding room and the bunk I was put in,” she explained.

Steve grinned, “If you think this is amazing, I should take you to Time’s Square sometime.”

“You know when I helped create Shield, I never expected it to become this high tech even with Howard’s involvement.” Steve and Tony shared a look, “what’s going on?” Suspicion laced her voice.

There was a pause. “This isn’t a Shield base,” Steve finally said. “This is an Avengers base. It grew from Shield, but it isn’t Shield.”

“And just what happened to Shield?”

“It’s a long story, one that’s for another time. For now, let’s just worry about whether you’re a decoy or not,” Tony paused at a door and keyed something into a pad on the wall, “and here we are.” He led the couple in and gestured to a table, “Just lie down on your stomach and lift your shirt up so the lower half of your back is bare.”

Peggy did as she was told and Tony positioned the machine over her lower back, “Okay, I’m going to need you to stay very still.” Peggy nodded and Steve followed Tony to where the control panel was. After a couple of minutes, Tony went back over to the machine and moved it away, “alright, give me an hour and we’ll know the answer.”

Peggy nodded, “okay, for now I think Steve and I will go back to the bunk.

“See you there in an hour then.”

~~~

Peggy paced back and forth across the room, unable to concentrate on the movie she and Steve had been watching.

“You do know pacing isn’t going to make time pass faster, right?” Peggy paused a moment to glare at Steve, who just patted the bed next to him. “Come sit down for a while.”

Peggy didn’t sit down, but she did stop pacing. “How can you be so calm about this?”

Steve shrugged, “the way I see it is, we’re just waiting to find out if you have three small indentations on your spine or not, nothing else changes.”

“How can you say that so easily?”

Steve got up and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, “because I’ve spent the past few days with you. I can say, without a doubt, that you are the same Peggy I knew during the war, LMD or not.”

Peggy leaned into his chest, “what did I ever do to deserve you?”

Steve chuckled, “you were born.”

Peggy looked up sharply, “you were not that smooth during the war, what on Earth happened?”

“Natasha decided I needed someone in my life and that in order for that to happen, she needed to teach me how to flirt. I think Clint – Barton, you met him – took videos of those lessons, I’m sure he’d show them to you if you asked.” Steve grinned at the memory, “I should probably warn you that they’re a train wreck though, I was not a good student.”

“Can’t imagine why,” Peggy said wryly. “Hey!” She squeaked as Steve poked her in the side, a wide smile on her face.

“There’s that beautiful smile.” Steve pulled away from Peggy and walked over to the table. “Now come on, let’s play a round of chess until Tony gets here.”

Peggy smirked, walking over to the table, “why? So I can destroy you at it?”

“Nope. So I can destroy you.”

“Oh, we’ll see about that.”

~~~

True to her word, Peggy destroyed Steve, their game ending shortly before Tony knocked on the door. He came in and spread a few x-rays on the table and placed a manila envelope next to them. “Tell me what you see.”

Steve and Peggy both raised their eyebrows, but examined the circled portions of the x-rays anyway. “Stark, I don’t see anything.” Peggy nodded in agreement.

“That’s because there’s nothing to see.”

Both of their heads whipped up, “Nothing?” They asked in unison.

“Freaky. But yes, there’s no indentations on your spine. Peggy, you’re not an LMD.”

Peggy threw her arms around Tony for a brief moment, “thank you.” She turned and practically launched herself at Steve who picked her up and swung her around.

“Yep. You’re now free to go out in the world and live your life.” He picked up the manila envelope and handed it to Peggy. “In here you’ll find all the documentation you need to exist in this world. You’ll also find a bank account in which I have put a tidy sum.” Peggy opened her mouth to protest. “Nope, there is no denying this money. You literally have nothing of your own and besides, it’s the least I can do considering it was Howard that caused all of this.”

Peggy gave Tony a small smile, “thank you.”

“As for living situation, you can either stay here until you find a place of your own, or there’s a room in the tower in New York if you wish to live there. Or you can stay there a while and find your own place in a bit, it’s up to you really.”

“Might I have a chance to think about it?”

“Of course,” Tony turned to Steve. “The jet you requested is waiting, whenever you’re ready.”

“Thanks Tony,” Steve stepped forward to shake Tony’s hand. “You’ve been a great help.”

“Hey c’mon Cap, it’s the least I can do. You lovebirds have fun now.” With that, Tony left the room.

Peggy raised an eyebrow, “lovebirds?”

Steve shrugged, “what can I say? It’s Tony.” He held his hand out to Peggy, “Now come on, we’ve got places to go?”

Peggy raised her eyebrow again, “we do?”

“Well there is a lot of this century you haven’t seen yet.”

Peggy smiled and took his hand, “well let’s go then.”

~~~

They were in the jet on the way to a destination that only Steve knew when he asked, “so what are you thinking about the living situation?”

Peggy sighed, “I don’t know. I don’t want to be dependent on Tony, but at the same time it’s been so long since I’ve lived on my own.”

“I’ve got a suggestion.”

Peggy looked at him questioningly, “you do?”

“I’ve got room in my apartment, why don’t you live with me?”

“Live with you?”

“Yeah, I’ve got another bedroom, nice space, good location. You wouldn’t be living on your own and you wouldn’t be dependent on Tony that way.” He looked up at her and for a moment, Peggy saw the earnest young soldier hoping to be picked for project rebirth.

“You know,” a smile stretched across her face, “I think I like the sound of that.”

~~~

They landed soon after and Steve ushered Peggy from the jet into a car with blacked out windows. When Peggy question him all Steve said was that he wanted her to have the full experience.

Peggy puzzled over that until the car stopped and Steve led her out.

Into the middle of Times Square.

Peggy felt her breath catch in her chest as she looked around at the busy streets, the bustling sidewalks, and the bright mega screens.

“This is the first real view I had of this century when I woke up,” Steve said. “And I wanted it to be the first thing you saw as well.”

“This is incredible,” Peggy breathed out. “Completely crazy, but incredible.”

Steve smiled, “you’re definitely taking this better than I did.”

“Are you certain about that? I have no words to describe any of this right now.”

“You haven’t beaten anyone up, that beats my record.” Peggy looked at him questioningly. “Shield tried to pull one over on me. I broke out, knocked out a few guys and ended up out here. I didn’t even know it was the 21st century until I was standing right about here.”

“Wow,” Peggy looked around again. “I can’t even begin to imagine.”

Steve shrugged, “it’s in the past now. Now, there’s one other thing I want to show you.” He offered his hand to Peggy who took it and pair made their way down the sidewalk.

~~~

A while later, the pair found themselves at the top of the Empire State Building.

“This view is beautiful,” Peggy said. “So much different than the view of New York I know, but still just as amazing.”

“This is one of the first things I sketched upon waking, sketching the New York skyline just felt familiar.” Steve put his arm around Peggy’s shoulders as he spoke.

“I imagine it would.”

The pair stood in silence for a few moments, looking out over the city, before Steve spoke again. “So, are you ready?”

Peggy looked up at him, “ready for what?”

“To face all this, New York, the Avengers, the 21st century.”

Peggy smiled, “with you by my side, I’m ready to face anything.”

“As if you need me to be ready and able to face anything that crosses your path.”

Peggy reached up and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Maybe so, but it’s better with you.”

Steve kissed her gently. “Welcome home, Peggy.”


End file.
